Friday 3 April 2015

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can I get my money back!

I wanted to ask if there's any help I can get if I had ewallet a woman claiming to be a landlord and renting out a house. She made up a story about the urgency of sending the money that the house is in demand. The money has been sent and the fake landlord never shows up, I never physically met her or saw the house but her number is still on but she never answers her phone. The police say there is nothing that can be done as the money was not stolen but willingly sent it. Are the police right?


It’s worth calling FNB to see if they can reverse the transaction but if it’s already been cashed I suspect that might not be possible.

I also think you should go back to the Police and give them some assistance. Mention to them that this woman is probably guilty of “Obtaining by false pretence”. Section 308 of the Penal Code says that anyone who does this “is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years”. If the Police don’t think that’s the right charge then try Section 310 which says that anyone convicted of “Cheating” can also go away for seven years.

I tried to contact the woman who you claim stole your money but she wasn’t very helpful. She refused to answer my calls but she did respond to my message on Facebook when I said I was covering the story in The Voice. She said “i dont know wat u tokn about covering it or not i realy dont care”. She then implied that if I wrote the story she would spread a story that I’d had sex with her.

Some people are VERY strange.

Update: Even Facebook now think she's a fake.


Will it work?

I am writing on behalf of my friend who bought an Apple iPad from one a store in Gaborone and would appreciate your advice regarding this purchase. After buying it he went to a mobile phone shop to install some applications particularly whatsapp and viber which he uses regularly because of the nature of his work. Sadly he was told at the store that the applications cannot be installed, I'm not sure why because he bought the iPad confident that it has the applications. He tried to return the iPad and exchange it with the one that has viber and whatsapp applications, but according to my friend the lady that sold him the iPad refuses to take it.

My friend is so not happy but like some customers, he fears to come out and demand his rights as a customer.


Your friend might find this frustrating but I’m afraid that WhatsApp and Viber are apps designed for cellphones, not iPads. If you check the WhatsApp web site your friend will see they say: “iPod and iPad devices are not supported at this time.”

It doesn’t take much research to learn that there ARE ways to install WhatsApp on an iPad but they are all unofficial. Some require the iPad to be “jailbroken” which I urge your friend NOT to attempt. If they jailbreak their iPad they’ll invalidate both the Apple warranty as well as the warranty the store offers.

There are other ways to get WhatsApp working on an iPad but they are all rather technical and you do this entirely at your own risk. Apple, WhatsApp and the company that sold the iPad aren’t ever going to offer your friend any support so they need to be very careful.

Did your friend specifically ask the store if the iPad could run WhatsApp and Viber? If he didn’t then it’s probably too late for him to change his mind. From what you say it seems like the store sold your friend the iPad in good faith. Unfortunately for your friend it’s not the store’s fault that he didn’t do his homework.

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